Huge game as stuttering Mansfield Town aim for second spot by beating strugglers Forest Green Rovers

Stags' promotion ambitions have been rocked by taking only one point from the last nine available and Saturday's 4-1 home thumping by Crawley Town hurt them a lot.

Mansfield won 4-0 at Forest Green, but new boss Steve Cotterill has improved Rovers since.

“You don't know if it is a 'must-win' game tomorrow at this stage, but it feels like it,” admitted Clough.

“I think with only five games to go, the three home games still represent our best chance of getting some points on the board

“If, and it's a big if, we can get three points tomorrow night, I think the whole mood will change and everything could look different.

“We have an opportunity to go second if we can win tomorrow night. Wow - four games to go and second in the league? Nine months ago we'd have taken that.”

On Forest Green he said: “It wasn't a four-niller at their place. I said at the time that flattered us and they played some really good stuff and caused us as many problems as any team in the league.

“They've done that in games and were not far off beating Wrexham with a last minute penalty against them. They lost 2-0 at MK Dons but won 3-0 at Crewe.

“They're not a bad team and not a bad squad. They'll certainly be fighting and Steve will have them going right until the end.

“I will select the team tomorrow on both physical and mental considerations - who's going to handle the situation the best?

“We do have one or two carrying knocks after Saturday so we'll assess it from there.

“Confidence-wise the players have to do it themselves.

“We can only do so much in terms of reassuring them and cajoling them.

“The measure of you as a player, your quality and where you are going to go in your career, it's not about scoring every week.

“It's when you haven't scored for a couple of games and you haven't played particularly well. What are you going to do about it yourself first and foremost to get out of that?”

Saturday's defeat came as a hammer blow out of the blue – their worst loss of the campaign.

“Anybody who thought we're anywhere near guaranteed any success this season is mistaken because it's over 46 games,” said Clough.

“Saturday's defeat and the manner of it just highlights that.

“I think the biggest thing is when you don't see it coming – the defeat and the manner of goals conceded.

“Without doubt the five defenders that were missing and Elliott Hewitt coming back from 10 months out has to have an impact. Anyone who thinks otherwise doesn't understand football.

“Pretty much everything went wrong for us on Saturday in terms of both penalty areas.

“We knew that Crawley were very good and had scored in the first two minutes of their previous two away games – they have had a fantastic away record since January.

“They are dangerous but we failed to deal with it.

“Forest Green went to Crewe recently and were 3-0 up in the first half. So anyone is capable of doing it in the league if you give them an opportunity.

“So our first priority is to get the first goal and take it from there.

“Performances don't matter at this time of this season.

“On Saturday I thought we were below par but we still had about 60 per cent possession and 22 shots at goal, only one less than at Bradford where we won 5-1. They had 12 shots, similar to Bradford, and put four of them away

“They hit the target, which we failed to do and that's the difference.”

Despite the result, Stags were applauded off by their encouraging home support and Clough said: “It was a great send off and made us feel a little bit embarrassed as well

“The majority of the crowd were still there urging us on at the end, giving us encouragement ready for Tuesday night.

“Maybe we didn't deserve that on Saturday.

“Obviously you get one or two saying were were 'effing useless' and that sort of thing, which at times we were on Saturday, but we haven't been too often over 41 games.

“But those 41 games have gone. Now, all the form and everything you've done in those is absolutely gone now.

“All that matters is these five games and it's almost like starting afresh, especially after Saturday.

“When you've had that sort of result it's about wiping your mind and starting again?

“We've got to completely embrace and relish the challenge now and don't see it as a burden.

“It looked a burden on Saturday, which was a concern, especially when the first goal went in and then the second one.

“Then I think you could really see the players physically sagging a little bit. So we have to deal with that as at 2-0 we were still in the game. But the burden seemed to be quite heavy on Saturday.”